[Fredslist] MentorU4Success, Volume 5,
Issue 11 - For All Mentors and Mentees and
Those Who Would Like to Be
Linda Queenie Newman
lindarnewman at verizon.net
Wed Mar 22 21:19:00 EST 2006
Good Evening Gotham,
Just sharing a little wisdom that has crossed my computer screen. Some
excellent tips here. Several Gothamites have asked for a Mentor to help
them market their businesses. While we have members in who do this for a
living, it is not fair to have them provide their services for free.
If anyone has suggestions regarding this unfulfilled need, I welcome hearing
from you.
Happy Networking!
Gothamly,
Linda, Co-Chair
Gotham Mentoring Program
Linda R. Newman
Third Generation Insurance Broker
lindarnewman at verizon.net
------------- Forwarded message follows -------------
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MentorU4Success Volume 5 Issue 11
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Welcome to this week's issue of MentorU4Success, your free
weekly ejournal providing valuable articles, insights, and
"Mentorisms" from our prestigious group of professional
speakers, trainers, and consultants.
We appreciate any feedback.
In This Issue You'll Find:
1. MentorU's Business Best Practice Radio Show - Last
Week's Highlighted Show
2. Leadership: Thinking Big
3. Time-Proven Methods To Balance The Marketing Mix
4. Tip of the Week: If you believe in your company
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Last Week's Highlighted MentorU Business Best Practice Radio Show
If you had a chance to listen to the January 6, 2006 Business Best Parctices
show we highlighted last week you heard Howard Putnam, former-CEO of
Southwest Airlines discuss how a rapid knowledge delivery "eBroadcast
System" could be the key to seizing a competitive advantage in 2006 by
allowing a company to connect their people, prospects and customers with the
Knowledge that helps them to produce maximum results. That requires:
a. Communicating your message with clarity, conciseness and timeliness
b. Creating an experience for your customers, and
c. Implementing systems that make it quick, easy and fun to do business
with you
Here is a 6 minute summary presentation which defines the time, efficiency
and productivity problems an eBroadcast System can solve for you and ALL
your customers -- your executives, managers and employees, industry
customers like sales channels, partners and commission based sales forces
and of course your prospects and client customers. Click below:
http://www.rapidknowledgedelivery.com/overview
Any questions or recommendations are always welcomed - just send an email
to:
jwacht at businessbestpractices.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Important White Paper Available
Business-Best-Practices.com (an educational resource of MentorU) released a
White Paper outlining ways to improve sales and your bottom line through the
use of rapid knowledge delivery -- via some "out-of-the-box"
strategies
to improve product knowledge, sales process, marketing and customer
service.
Go to http://www.BusinessBestPractices.com/whitepaper to request your copy
or send any email to whitepaper-
bbp at aweber.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leadership: Thinking Big
MU Professor Howard Putnam
http://www.mentoru.com/Putnam
Tom Davis was a tall, lanky 22 year old man with a receding hairline when
Richard J. Reynolds (of the tobacco fame family in NC) asked him in 1940 to
buy his airplane dealership in Winston Salem, Camel City Flying Service, for
$14,487 - a sum that Davis borrowed from his Father, a successful
businessman.
Davis worked at the Winston-Salem airport, flying and selling planes, and
had often crossed paths with Reynolds. Young Tom was an asthmatic, he was
the third son, he wasn't the most likely person to start what became the
eighth largest airline in the world. But he thought big. He incorporated as
Piedmont Aviation and in one year was the No. 1 seller of airplanes in North
Carolina.
After World War II, he decided to convert to passenger service. His first
flight, on Feb. 20, 1948, had one paying passenger in a DC-3 from
Wilmington, NC to Cincinnati. It stopped in Southern Pines, Charlotte,
Asheville, The Trii-Cities in Tenn. and Lexington, KY. The one way ticket
was $34.50.
Tom Davis became a legend in the airline industry. He knew every employee's
name and he worked at it as Piedmont grew. He was a great leader who kept a
close eye on things without micromanaging.It was impossible to find anyone
that would say something bad about him.
Over the years the company gained an excellent reputaton for customer
service and a sense of caring. It all came from a man who was a leader and a
"nice man" with a vision who thought big. Piedmont Airlines grew to 20,000
employees and over two billion dollars in revenue before being swallowed up
in a bitter merger fight in 1998 with USAirways.
Tom had retired in 1981 and cringed as his Piemont Airlines disappeared in
the merger. Tom Davis died in 1999, but his former Piedmont employees still
today, keep "his spirit alive" and the comradery of caring for customers and
each other lives on.
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MentorU's NEW Business Best Practice Radio Show offers interviews and
CONCISE, step-by-step online multimedia lessons targeted to Management,
Sales, Service and People Strategies that can improve YOUR business RESULTS.
Check out our weekly show agenda and archive library at:
http://www.bbpradio.com
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Time-Proven Methods To Balance The Marketing Mix by MU Professor Marjorie
Brody http://www.mentoru.com/Brody
Although some speakers make a living by word of mouth (pun intended), most
of us mere mortals require marketing to be successful. Personally, I use a
marketing mix to enhance my visibility, thus expanding my business.
My marketing mix includes:
1) Have something to say - and be good on the platform
You can do all the marketing in the world, but if you have a non- sellable
topic and no talent, get out of the business or get help.
What are your areas of expertise? You need to select topics that you can
talk about confidently and expertly, then get out there and give
presentations until your name is synonymous with the subject. The topics
must have market value and have cutting edge content.
2) Have good marketing materials
Your marketing materials must reflect your quality - image counts.
Have two sets of materials ready to send at a moment's notice.
One set should have your complete contact information - name, address,
toll-free number, fax number, email address and web page. The other set
should be "bureau friendly" - with no contact information listed; allowing
the bureau to put their seal or stamp on it. Demo videos may be necessary
for keynotes, rarely for training. Make sure that materials fax well.
3) Develop lasting business relationships with clients
Clients are more than just a source of income. Become their business
partners; help them solve their problems. Recommend other speakers to fill
needs that you can't.
If you can create a lasting relationship with your clients, it becomes
easier to go deep within an organization. Be sure your clients are aware of
all that you do (i.e. do you coach/train/speak/consult/facilitate,
etc.)
4) Ask for referrals
Many speakers are reluctant to ask for referrals from their satisfied
clients. Bill Cates, author of Unlimited Referrals, says that not asking
happy clients for referrals is like discovering a gold mine, but never going
in to mine its treasures.
When you ask for a referral, Cates says that you should not come from a ME
place, but rather, a WE place. It might sound something like, "Mary, I'm
glad your members were happy with my program. I have an important question
to ask you. Do you mind if we took a moment to explore who else might
benefit from my message?"
5) Develop advocates
How do you stay on the top of clients and prospects' collective minds?
By
keeping your name in front of them.
Determine who you need as advocates, then target them on a regular basis.
Advocates are decision makers who can book you or refer you to those who
can. Be in touch with them monthly - send small gifts (a book you wrote),
articles relevant to their industries, a holiday greeting card, etc.
Talk to
Mark LeBlanc for more information on creating advocates.
6) Write/write/write!
One of the best ways for you to market yourself is to be perceived as an
expert. A sure way of doing this is to write and create product.
Author Tim Connor, CSP, says, "There are advantages to a product that either
reinforces your message for the audience or helps you close (for you
non-sales types, that means getting booked) the sale." Tim's first book,
Soft Sell, was the basis for his workbook for a two-day public sales
seminar. This seminar became the foundation for his two six-cassette albums.
Those six-cassette albums became the foundation for his 12-cassette audio
series Soft Sell Sales Course. As Tim explains, "I am sure you get my point.
Everything you do should feed something else or preferably everything else
you do."
What advice does Art Sobczak, a specialist in telesales training, and editor
and publisher of Telephone Selling Report, offer speakers about writing?
"Read like a maniac. Especially from the perspective of your targeted
audience. Keep a clip file for ideas you want to expand on. Make a
commitment to write something regularly, whether it be daily, weekly or
monthly. Then package it in a newsletter, articles to publications your
audience reads, and also into products."
7) Develop a web site (have lots of link and search engine listings)
To effectively compete in today's marketplace, speakers need to be on line.
Having a Web page is as important as having a brochure.
However, people can't visit your site unless they are aware of it.
Contact
non competing colleagues about cross linking their pages to yours. Also
contact speakers bureaus and other speaking-related sites to investigate
link possibilities.
Once your page is ready for mass viewing, e-mail all the search engines with
the key words related to your site. If your area of expertise is customer
service and you do speaking and training, you want your site to be listed
when a search is done for the words "customer service," "speaker" and
"trainer."
8) Network everywhere
Business travel is a great way to drum up new business. Here are two tips
that I use to network:
Talk to people on airport or hotel courtesy vans, on the plane or train, in
rental car lines, lift lines, airline clubs, or even bathrooms (get the
point?). Remember, it's all in the follow-up. Keep in touch!
9) Be easy to work with
People don't want to do business with those who treat them poorly. Make
dealing with you a burden-free experience.
Points to ponder:
. Be responsive. When asked for information, provide it promptly.
. If asked for something that seems unreasonable, maintain a pleasant and
conciliatory attitude, even if you must say no.
. Regularly check voice mail, answering machines and e-mail.
Reply to all phone calls and messages promptly.
. Get feedback. If there are problem areas, address them quickly.
10) P.R. tactics do the trick
How do you become a mini celebrity and successful? Excellent public
relations. Develop your own PR kit, which needs to include black and white
and color pictures, personal biography, company profile, client list,
articles about you and the firm, references and recommendation letters.
Send out news releases to all media - radio, TV and print - whenever you
produce a new book or receive an award/honor. Get interviewed
- on radio and TV. Write letters to the editor.
A one-page newsletter mailed or emailed to clients and prospects can be an
effective means to market yourself and services.
Another way to make your name known is to advertise - whether through
traditional means or in industry-specific directories. I have found media
guides to be highly successful - they see my name, areas of expertise, then
call to interview me.
The result? An impressive list of appearances in articles ranging from The
Washington Post, USA Today and Men's Health magazine.
It's all in the mix. No one marketing technique is enough. By applying a
combination of my 10 methods, you, too, can be well on your way to success.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ever think about a Internet Radio show as a private company
competitive communication weapon?
Check it out at:
http://www.CorporateInternetRadio.com
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Tip Of The Week - If you believe in your company
by MU Professor Jeffrey Gitomer
http://www.mentoru.com/gitomer
If you believe in your company.
If you believe in your product.
If you believe in yourself.
Then you can march to success
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Queen of Networking
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